Unicorn paradigm
The unicorn paradigm is an example of the application of scientific criticism . It is said:
“If you told me you had a goat in your garden, I could believe you. If you said you had a unicorn in your garden, even a photo wouldn't convince me - I wouldn't rest until I saw it with my own eyes. "
Gero von Randow explains it as follows:
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, is beyond criticism. Anyone who claims something is subject to proof. And the stronger, more unusual, more deviant an assertion, the stricter the requirements must be placed on its justification. "
The example goes back to the parascience critic James Randi , who first introduced the "unicorn paradigm" in 1988 in a critical article on Jacques Benveniste's theory of the "water memory":
"Look, if I told you that I keep a goat in the backyard of my house in Florida, and if you happened to have a man near-by, you might ask him to look over my garden fence, when he'd say" That man keeps a goat '. But what would you do if I said, 'I keep a unicorn in my backyard'? "
It was popularized by the science journalist Martin Gardner .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gero von Randow: My paranormal bicycle. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1993, p. 12.
- ↑ John Maddox , James Randi, Walter W. Stewart: "High-dilution" experiments a delusion. In: Nature 334 (July 28, 1988), pp. 287-290 ( online ).
- ^ Martin Gardner: On the wild side. Amherst NY: Prometheus Books, 1992, p. 38.